Keeping Score: Which IRON MAN 3 Rumors Were Fact & Which Were Fiction?

Spoiler warning! Let's take a look back at some of the more intriguing Iron Man 3 rumors that were reported on, and see which ones ended up being fact, and which ones ended up being fiction.

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By nailbiter111 - 5/6/2013

September 4, 2010: Katie Nicholl of The Daily Mail reported that: "Now I hear producers are planning to give Scarlett her own role in a break-out movie and are also hoping to land British star Emily Blunt to play the villain in the next Iron Man instalment."

Verdict: Well, there is a chance that Marvel did want Emily Blunt to play the role of Maya Hansen, which ended up going to Rebecca Hall... after Jessica Chastain pulled out. And the role is villainous in nature, as she teams up with Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce). But at the end of the day Emily Blunt didn't get the role, nor do we know if she was actually up for it. Score? Fiction.

P.S. it also doesn't help that Daily Mail was also off with reports of Black Widow getting her own solo film.

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2/9/2011: Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter, reported that his inside sources had Shane Black in contention to replace Jon Favreau. Not only that, but Borys also added; if hired, Black would help write the script.

Verdict: Fact! Borys Kit is as reliable as they come, and he nailed this one, on both accounts. Shane Black did direct the sequel and did help write the screenplay alongside Drew Pearce.

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2011-04-22: Josh Tyler from Cinema Blend reported: "We’ve heard from multiple, completely trustworthy sources that Shane Black is in fact writing Iron Man 3. He’ll co-write the movie with Pearce and word is that his ideas are behind a lot of what’s happening with the script they’re working on."

Verdict: Fact, BUT Borys' sources were on that tidbit two months ahead of Cinema Blend, so it's hard to give them much credit for that info. Final verdict? Eh, no soup for you.

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8/2/2011:Twitter user, LittleKuriboh, tweeted, "a friend of mine whos working on the set of the Avengers movie says that the Avengers ship is so expensive that it will be in IM3"

Verdict: Fiction! The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier did not make an appearance in the film. Hell, no S.H.I.E.L.D. presence at all. What did we learn? Don't believe random people on Twitter... cough... cough... Roger Wardell. Don't worry, we'll get to that troll later.

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9/22/2011: A source for Latino Review that filming of Iron Man 3 would take place in Port City of Wilmington, North Carolina at Screen Gems studios.

Verdict: Unconfirmed! The diminutive actor, is 5-foot-8, and could certainly use a boost in height to make him feel more super, but I doubt we'll ever know if this is true or fiction. Why not? Cause, who really gives a shit? Oh, I guess some people cause many sites reported it... like us. Oops!

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January 28, 2012: Scott Johnson of Comicbook.comspeculated that Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner would be in the film, and would be a villain. They came to this conclusion based on Screen Gems Studios having a 37,500 square foot sound stage that includes a special effects water tank, and at the time believing that a giant sea creature was in The Avengers. They also came to that conclusion because supposed Easter Eggs involved Atlantis.

Verdict: Fiction! Now, I know it was just speculation, but Comicbook.com labeled it as a rumor, so I will judge it based on that. That's on them, not on me.

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3.11.12: Da7e of Latino Review reported that Iron Man 3 plot would be based on the incredibly popular "Extremis" story-line from the comics.

Verdict: Fact!Iron Man 3 is clearly influenced by Warren Ellis' "Extremis" storyline. This was perhaps the biggest scoop of all. Well done!

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May 29, 2012: Scott Johnson of ComicBook.com reported "one source involved with the production tell us that Mandarin was definitely the villain. He said Mandarin had a set of twins that did most of his dirty work for him. Another source who had visited EUE/Screen Gems Studios told us that the sets they were building included Chinese storefronts.

Probably, the biggest piece of information we learned, which we reported earlier is that part of the story for Iron Man 3 will be set in Miami, Florida."

Verdict: Fact! & Fiction! Well, we got multiple rumors to deal with on this one. Let's start with the facts. Yes, Mandarin was a villain in the film, so that's a thumbs up. And Miami was a locale used in the film as well. As for fiction, the Mandarin didn't have twins do his dirty work. Wonder Twin powers activate!

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5.30.12: Da7e from Latino Review reported "The Mandarin (as played by Ben Kingsley) is a villain in the ‘Iron Man 3,’ but he’s more a veiled threat as a silent partner to Guy Pearce’s Aldrich Killian. Killian is the man inventing Extremis and putting it into his “Extremis army” of multiple super-powered individuals."

Verdict: Fact! Okay, maybe this is the best scoop in the bunch. Da7e was on the money, as he was the first to report that Ben Kingsley's Mandarin would havea much smaller role, and that Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian was possibly a larger threat. This was the first inkling of the huge Iron Man 3 twist. Bravo!

By the way, they also added that the rumor of twins was fictitious. Winning!

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6/13/2012:DCMarvelFreshman from COMICBOOKMOVIE.COM was contacted by tipsters who informed him that a set was being built to look like Grauman's Chinese Theater. And another tipster informed him that, "Gwyneth Paltrow recently shot a rather romantic scene with villain Aldrich Killian actor Guy Pearce."

Verdict: Fact & Kinda Fact! Grauman's Chinese Theater was the site of an important scene in Iron Man 3. Poor Happy. While the second is probably referring to the sensual kiss that Aldrich plants on Pepper's cheek outside of the building. It certainly left Pepper rattled and to an observer that would be enough to speculate of a love triangle brewing. That DIDN'T happen, but the tipster seemed to be genuine. Score!

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June 25, 2012:The Playlist’s Gabe Toro participated in a podcast in which he stated that S.H.I.E.L.D. is part of the film, specifically Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). Also, said that William Sadler would be playing a General and that Chen Lu would have a larger role in the film so that a connection to Ant-Man can be formed. He eludes to Edgar Wright shooting an after credits scene with Chen Lu.

Verdict: Fiction! The after credits scene certainly had nothing to do with Ant-Man and was not directed by Edgar Wright. Also, there was no S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the film, nor was Sadler a General. He was the motherfucking President. America, fuck yeah!

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7/11/2012: Da7e from Latino Review reported, "Excelsior! …says the beauty pageant judge! Ok, he doesn’t say ‘Excelsior’ but he DOES appear as a beauty pageant judge!"

Verdict:Fact! Stan "The Man" Lee did make a cameo in Iron Man 3 as a beauty pageant judge... a horny looking one at that. While it is not my favorite Stan Lee cameo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it did produce a chuckle, and that's all that really matters.

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9/3/2012:Mtime reported that Chinese actor Wang Xueqi had joined the cast as Doctor Chen Lu.

Verdict: Fact! Wang Xueqi did join the cast, but did not become the villain, Radioactive Man.

Let me add, that Wang Xueqi's reaction to Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) comments about Maya Hansen needing a heart doctor, while they were at the 1999 New Year's Eve party in Berne, Switzerland was awkwardly bad. So bad, that it will make a great Gif. Somebody get on that!

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9/4/2012: Da7e (what's up with the 7?) from Latino Review reported, “The Extremis-enhanced bad guys under direction of Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin villain are going to be too much for Tony to handle on his own, so he thinks ahead, thinks big and has a plan. Tony’s about to go out and fight some bad guys when he mentions the Mark XLVII to Pepper Potts. Pepper asks what happened to the other forty and Tony just smiles.

From the cockpit of Mark XLVII Tony is able to control multiple armors in battle. We over here at LR have been vaguely aware of an action scene where Tony was going to control multiple Iron Man suits (presumably they look similar to distract his enemies as to the location of kill-able Iron Man Prime), but the number 40 seems…awesome. 40 Iron Men.”

Verdict: Fact! For the most part. Let's focus on the most important part of this info, that Tony built a shit ton of armors. Of course, some of this info is slightly off here and there but you'd have to be a dick to nitpick it. What's that? This whole article is nitpicky? Well, fuck you.

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November 12, 2012: Twitter user, Roger "Troll" Wardell rose to fame just as quickly as he fizzled out. This pest, claimed to have Marvel inside info and had many fanboys and sites convinced he was the next Nostradamus of the MCU. But it was uncovered that he was a pimply teenager with a wild imagination. As for Iron Man 3, he tweeted, "Inside News: When Stephanie Szostak’s role is for Iron Man 3 is announced, fans will go crazy."

Verdict: Fiction! Unless all of you reading this can honestly tell me that you went crazy when you found out that Stephanie Szostak was playing Ellen Brandt, an extremis soldier. Yeah, so pipe it. Also keep in mind, that many sites and fanboys speculated that the tweet meant Stephanie Szostak was actually going to end up being The Wasp (Janet Van Dyne). Guess what! She wasn't.

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1.29.13: El Mayimbe from Latino Review had a scoop based on the Funko Deep Space toy. He reported, "According to sources, at the end of Iron Man 3, Tony actually does go up into space to hook up with the Guardians of The Galaxy where I also hear he appears at the end of that movie as well."

Verdict: Fiction! I know El Mayimbe is gonna be mad that I put that, but I have to call it as it is. This scene just did not happen. What's interesting is that he isn't the only one that reported on this info (see below). I wonder if Marvel planted the fake info to perhaps find out who has been leaking info, or the scene was shot, but didn't work as expected. So, it had to be scrapped? Or, it just never is, cause it never was.

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3/2/2013:Io9 posted info that came from a user on 4Chan. That user had info on a ton of the new armors, but most people focused on the description of the space suit: “using a unique new metal alloy that absorbs his ARC Reactor energy signature. Tony travels into the far reaches of space to find the source of a coded SOS he receives at the end of Iron Man 3. The SOS is from a masked Star-Lord, so Tony takes off to find him (noting that, with the space armor, he’s “ready this time”). Jarvis asks Tony where he’s going, replying, “I’ll be back.”

Verdict: Fiction! While a good amount of fans expected a link between Iron Man and the Guardians Of The Galaxy, it just never happened.

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4.15.13: El Mayimbe of Latino Review claimed that Dr. Banner would be making a cameo in the after credits scene.

Verdict: Fact! They had a source at the Paris premiere, and that information is accurate.

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Marvel Studios’ “Iron Man 3″ pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?Iron Man 3 was directed by Shane Black, and will hit theaters May 3, 2013! The film stars: Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark), Gwyneth Paltrow (Virginia Potts), Don Cheadle (Col. James Rhodes), and Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin.

Maybe comic fans would be excited about Ellen Brandt, who in the comics was the wife of a scientist who sold her husband's research on plants to AIM, and the husband later became Man-Thing. The scar on her face? Courtesy of Man-Thing

I for one am glad that the whole Guardians of the Galaxy post-credit scene rumor is false. Do I want the new Phase Two entries to start fresh, on their own? Yes, I really do. Do I think that Iron Man's presence would be necessary to the team? Nope. In the future (beyond The Avengers sequel, that is), perhaps, but for their first introduction, I want the Guardians of the Galaxy - and again, all the new entries in Phase Two - to be just themselves. Not everything should be connected to something whatsoever, and sometimes, less is indeed more. So yeah, I'm happy with that Banner cameo in the end of the movie, rather than the Guardians, or anything else.

Anyway, great stuff, nail! Must be a lot of work, but I enjoy this, and I hope there will be more for future outings.

This is a very cool kind of article you have here! Really creative and inventive! To make things easier on yourself, think you should start taking notes of rumors for future films now instead of waiting for it to come out and then trying to find all the articles. Also wasn't there a rumor from Latino Review that the Ghost would be the main villain of the film?

This is a great article. I'll definitely look at these when they come out. I'll never forget two years of "OMG! Johnny Depp confirmed as the Riddler! He's the ONLY one who can do it after Heath Ledger! Tee Hee Hee!"

Well the government was quite aware of the threat but the time between the Presidents capture and rescue was a few hours. Keep in mind that Rhodes did call the VP and presumed they knew what was going on. I like to think Shield showed up 5 minutes later after Tony destroyed his suits.

i am actually very happy that there wasn't a GOTG connection and that Tony didn't go into space to meet up with Star Lord and wind up in that movie.

For me, GOTG needs to stand alone. Sure RDJ's presence would aid in box office, but it is needless and an over-saturation of the character. and then we end up with an Avengers style film where it becomes, Iron Man and his space buddies instead of Guardians Of the Galaxy, just like the Avengers was really, Iron Man and his super friends.

Was the Helicarrier not in the film? I swear I saw it when Stark looked up after just walking out of Trevor's house and getting the Mark 42 suit? I swear I saw it fly over head very quickly and very briefly, and others I know swear they saw it too, maybe not. Great article btw! :D

Was it just me or did the movie like never acknowledged the "why doesn't tony just call the avengers" question. You would think if the president is in danger, Cap and Shield would've just helped to stop them. Then again maybe they were all on vacation cause it was Christmas.

The intimate scene refernced is most likely a deleted scene. I watched a making of video where guy pearce one of the things cut from the script was an added effect of the extremis virus, in that it makes sexually desirable. In the final film it just came down to Pepper's longing stare after Killian's kiss on her cheek. The deleted scene however there was a sex scene between pepper and killian. how it would have worked in context with the rest of the movie I can't say, but I know it was cut not only for the rating, but to save face for Paltrow's character, to not make her look like a two-timing hussie, as it were

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